La Crosse, Wis. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse baseball team earned a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) doubleheader sweep of Finlandia University (Mich.) Friday afternoon at Copeland Park. The Eagles won the opener, 13-0 in seven innings, and the nightcap, 9-5. UWL improves to 18-10 overall and 10-8 in the WIAC while Finlandia (Mich.) drops to 0-26 overall and 0-18 in the conference. 

Zach Pronschinske and Chris Seveska combined on the shutout in the opener. Pronschinske (4-2) earned the win, pitching 5.0 innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out nine. He recorded his 200th career strikeout in the fourth inning getting Sawyer Murrell. Pronschinske struck out the side in the inning. He now has 203 in his career, ranking third in UWL history. Mason McMahon (2016-19) is UWL's all-time leader with 237 strikeouts while Caleb Boushley (2015-17) ranks second with 227.   

Seveska went 2.0 innings on Friday, allowing one hit with four strikeouts. 

The Eagles took a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the first on only two hits. Connor Roesler reached on a Lions' error to start the game and stole second. Jonathan Wizner walked and Brennan Schmitt singled to load the bases with no outs. Mac Born drew a bases-loaded walk to score the first run of the game. Shane Coker was hit-by-pitch to make it 2-0 and Andrew Rajkovich's RBI single gave UWL a 3-0 advantage. Born scored on Ethan Gerstner's fielder's choice and Coker came in on another Finlandia (Mich.) error to finish the scoring. 

UWL tallied eight runs in the fourth. Roesler singled to start the inning and stole second with one out. Zach Carney singled and Schmitt followed with an RBI double to score Roesler and a 6-0 lead. Born delivered a two-run triple to make it 8-0 and Coker's single knocked in Born for a 9-0 lead. Rajkovich followed with a two-run home run. After a Lions' pitching change, Gerstner walked and scored on Roesler's two-out home run to give the Eagles a 13-0 lead. 

UWL finished with 13 hits in the opener. Schmitt and Rajkovich each went 3-for-4 in the game with Schmitt finishing with two runs and an RBI while Rajkovich scored once and had three RBI. Roesler went 2-for-5 with three runs and two RBI while Carney finished 2-for-4 with a run scored. 

Thomas Burns (0-6) took the loss for Finlandia (Mich.), pitching 3.1 innings, allowing 10 hits, 11 runs (nine earned) and three walks while striking out two. John Brundage and Brayden Blain each had a hit for the Lions. Finlandia (Mich.) did not advance a runner past first base in the game. 

UWL took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first in the nightcap. Roesler singled and later scored on Schmitt's single for the first run of the game. After a Born single, Coker knocked in Schmitt with an RBI single for a 2-0 lead.  The Eagles added to their lead with a pair of two-out runs in the second inning. Roesler doubled with two outs adn scored on Wizner's ground-rule double followed by a Carney single to make it 4-0. 
 

Finlandia (Mich.) cut the lead to 4-3 in the top of the fourth. Brayden Blain walked with two outs and advanced to second on Gideon Scott's single. Austin Green followed with a three-run home run to make it a one-run game. The Lions tied the game in the top of the fifth on Jacob Mead's solo home run, but the Eagles regained the lead in the bottom of the inning on Carney's solo home run. 

UWL added to its lead with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. Roesler singled to open the frame and went to second on Wizner's sacrifice bunt. Carney followed with a single to make it 6-4. Carney stole second and came in on Schmitt's single for a 7-4 advantage. After a Finlandia (Mich.) pitching change, Schmitt came in on an Lions' throwing error. 

Mead led-off the top of the eighth with his second home run of the game to cut the deficit to 8-5. UWL added a run in the eighth. Rajkovich walked and replaced by pinch-runner Colton Schraepfer, who went to second on Gerstner's sacrifice bunt. Schraepfer went to third and eventually scored on a pair of wild pitches. 

Jack Mizgalski (4-1) earned the win for UWL, pitching 6.0 innings, allowing four hits, four runs and one walk while tying his career-high with 10 strikeouts. Alex Mach recorded his second save, going 3.0 innings, allowing three hits, one run and one walk with three strikeouts. The Eagles had 12 hits with Roesler, Carney and Schmitt each finishing with three. Roesler scored three times while Carney (three RBI) and Schmitt (two RBI) each scored two runs. 

Brandon Hale (0-4) suffered the loss for Finlandia (Mich.), pitching 6.1 innings, allowing 12 hits and eight runs (seven earned) with five strikeouts. The Lions had seven hits as Mead went 2-for-4 with two home runs. Joe Galindo finished 2-for-4 while Green finished with three RBI.

The teams will play another doubleheader Saturday, May 1 starting at 1 p.m. at Copeland Park.